My BH and I have 5 nights in Venice at the end of September this year.

Does anyone have any experience/advice on taking a day trip from Venice i.e. destinations, distances, transport and cost.

Many thanks

Here another thread on this subject
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34412122

A common "day" trip is to the islands of Burano (lace), Murano (glass), Torcello and Lido. All can be done by vaparetto (water bus).

Not sure whether the following info comes from the thread I gave you but here goes...

There are boat trips down the Brenta Canal to see Palladian Villas. Here are some websites with info

www.boglewood.com/palladio/map.html
for map and list of Palladian villas on the Brenta Canal. There is a Brenta Canal boat that leaves from Venice and that stops at several of the villas.
tour boats:

www.deltatour.it website gives rates but not a schedule

also www.antoniana.it/individuali-i.html lots of detailed information

http://goeurope.about.com/travel/goe...ts_culture.htm

If you don't mind taking the train, there are frequent trains(around 30 minutes) from Venice to Padova:a great town with many intersting historical sites and architecture,one of the oldest garden. If you happen to be there on Saturday, the weekly market is fun to visit.

Or you could visit Verona,on the same train line (about 1 hour 20 minutes).

It is possible to do both in one day with tickets to Verona,step off at Padova.

I am thinking about shortening my stay in Venice by one night and making Padua and Verona a stop on my way back to Rome. have you slept in Verona? do you recomend it as a stopover point out of Venice? I dont' normally like to move hotels a lot but I also can't see going an 1-1/2 out and return on the same day just to sleep another night in Venice. Any specific tips for hotels etc. are appreciated.

I am afraid I haven't stayed in Verona overnight. But if you are going to Rome by train, perhaps it would be more convenient staying in Podova, since it is on the train line from Venice to Rome.

Certainly you could stay in Verona, then change train in Bologna to Rome.

mclaurie and JudyC, thanks very much for the links and advice - much appreaciated.